I have a relative idea on what the herd does in my hunting areas. Basically just want to hear the varieties people see across the country.
So to the question. At what point in the year do you guys see your mature bucks transition from summer feed patterns to pre-rut ground, and pre-rut ground to rut territory.
Up here in Southern Maine, I usually see the older bucks start to move off of summer grassy/low browse feed, to the mast crops and woody browse around the end of September and no later than the first full weekend of October.
From there, these bucks are officially on their pre-rut ground. They start to spar, bachelor groups slowly break up, and by the third weekend of October they have settled into core rut areas to get ready to run does.
From third weekend of October to the third weekend of November, kiss any pattern goodbye. Our peak rut is typically between the 12th and 14th of November. A buck I hunted for almost 4 years was killed 1.8 miles away from where he was last on camera 33 hours before. 1.8 miles over 33 hours is nothing for a whitetail. They could cover that in minutes. Keep in mind though, this was a 6.5 year old GIANT, and he was running does through large blocks of timber.
So, lets hear some input! What do you guys see in your states for movement and when?! It may help others on here solve the riddle they've been trying to crack for years!
So to the question. At what point in the year do you guys see your mature bucks transition from summer feed patterns to pre-rut ground, and pre-rut ground to rut territory.
Up here in Southern Maine, I usually see the older bucks start to move off of summer grassy/low browse feed, to the mast crops and woody browse around the end of September and no later than the first full weekend of October.
From there, these bucks are officially on their pre-rut ground. They start to spar, bachelor groups slowly break up, and by the third weekend of October they have settled into core rut areas to get ready to run does.
From third weekend of October to the third weekend of November, kiss any pattern goodbye. Our peak rut is typically between the 12th and 14th of November. A buck I hunted for almost 4 years was killed 1.8 miles away from where he was last on camera 33 hours before. 1.8 miles over 33 hours is nothing for a whitetail. They could cover that in minutes. Keep in mind though, this was a 6.5 year old GIANT, and he was running does through large blocks of timber.
So, lets hear some input! What do you guys see in your states for movement and when?! It may help others on here solve the riddle they've been trying to crack for years!